Tag: messing about in boats

Fall is in the air

On By David BranbyIn Commissioning & De-commissioning, Mechanical Stuff, Splendido2 Comments

Here’s to another summer sailing season at Lake Tahoe in the books! My pal Ancil and I drove up early yesterday morning to haul out Splendido for the winter. We arrived well before any of the staff was up at Obexer’s Marina, so we did our prep work (loosening the shrouds and stays) and were ready to go when Bret and Jessy fired up the Marina Bull to unstep the mast and lift Splendido gently out of the water and place her on her 38′ trailer.

Two days before, I had bade farewell to our lovely mooring at Hurricane Bay and motored down the 2-1/2 miles to Obexer’s, as they gave me permission to take an empty slip in preparation for our haul-out. On the way down, winds were 12 knots out of the east with that long fetch from Cave Rock on the east shore all the way to McKinney Bay on the west, so it was quite the rock ‘n’ rolling ride, with occasional three to 3-1/2 foot swells and water splashing over the side, which made for a lively passage.

Hauling out a 27′ sailboat like Splendido is fairly straightforward, although I’m always a bit “on point” because there’s a lot of moving parts, literally and figuratively. First, we move the boat nose first into the haul-out slip and tie her off with four lines. Then, the forklift comes in and they put a harness around the mast at the balance point near the lower spreaders. We then release the lower shrouds, upper shrouds, forestay and backstays, and they unstep the mast and place it gently on sawhorses. I then tie down all the rigging and remove the wind instruments and put them in their winter storage box. Next, we move the boat out of the slip and back it in so the stern is facing the forklift. They get it balanced on the forks, then gently lift her out and set her on her trailer. Finally, they lift up the mast once again and set it on top of the boat. We lash everything down, put the dinghy on the trailer, go have lunch at The Bridgetender in Tahoe City, and head down to the boatyard.

The ride down the hill from Tahoe (6,230 ft. above sea level) to Splendido’s winter home (4,800 ft. above sea level) was smooth and uneventful — just the way I like it. Over the next week or two, I’ll get her cleaned up and winterized, which means draining the water heater, blowing out the water lines with compressed air so there’s nothing to freeze, changing the oil and filter, topping off the fuel and buttoning her up. Ancil (who cannot help but to make constant improvements on anything that catches his eye) surprised me earlier this summer by mounting an aluminum truck storage box he’d found for free on Craigslist to hold gear, tools, and whatnot on the trailer. It looks and works great. While he was cleaning out his shop recently, he came across some steel bars and decided to fabricate, primer and paint four “mast holder” extensions that will support the mast on the lower right side of the trailer when it’s time to put on the winter cover later this fall. I can’t thank him enough for all he’s done to make sailing Splendido safer, easier, and more convenient. Thanks, Ancil!

As I write this, the aspens are beginning to turn here in the high country; the birds are flying south and the Nevada sky has turned that deep, lustrous blue that means the first blustery winds of the season are not too far around the corner. I am immensely grateful for every moment spent sailing Splendido and working on her to make her the best good old boat she can be.

I look back and recall fondly the four years(!) Debbie and I spent looking on our laptops for a boat that spoke to us and that we could afford. When we happened upon the Catalina 270 — named Boat of the Year by Cruising World Magazine the year it was unveiled — our minds were made up, and we’ve never regretted that decision. Splendido has been yar, which means lovely, balanced and quick. We learned that watching The Philadelphia Story with Katherine Hepburn (Tracy Lord) and Cary Grant (C.K. Dexter Haven) who were reminiscing about their sailboat, The True Love:

Tracy: It was beautiful – and sweet, Dex.
Dexter: Yes, yes. She was quite a boat, the… True Love, wasn’t she?
Tracy: Was, and is.
Dexter: My, she was yar.
Tracy: She was yar alright. 

Fair winds and smooth sailing. DB

Stripping the boat for the change in seasons

On By David BranbyIn Commissioning & De-commissioning, On The Water, SplendidoLeave a comment

I went up to the lake yesterday morning to prep Splendido for her haul-out scheduled for next Wednesday morning at Obexer’s. I motored north to Tahoe City Marina to do one final pump-out for the season, then enjoyed the view of the turning aspens intermixed with Tahoe’s gorgeous pines on the way back to our mooring at Skyland. I set a stopwatch and am proud to say that I was able to untape and pull all the cotter rings on the rigging, put the boom and mainsail in the cabin, and drop and bag the 150 genoa in two hours and six minutes — literally singlehandedly, since my left wrist is in a splint from coming off my dirt bike earlier this summer. As I was wrapping up, a solitary efoiler with a visible microphone in his helmet carved lazy S-turns through our mooring field and waved as he passed Splendido, the last boat left on the hook. I can’t help but wonder if it wasn’t Zuckerberg himself. I mean, who else would have a microphone in their helmet? We’ll never know.

The big news of the day, though, is that, with a heavy heart, we have put our lovingly restored Splendido on the market for sale, as we now want to do more land-based travels to national parks and to see parts of this amazing country and the world that we haven’t seen yet. This doesn’t mean it’s the end of our lives as sailors. I’m not sure what the future holds in that regard, but I can imagine finding ways to get back on the water when we’ve had our fill of road trips. I am grateful for everything I’ve learned (and that’s a lot!) and every moment spent getting to know majestic Lake Tahoe over these past 15 seasons — and filled with gratitude for the shared wisdom, support, hard work and goodwill of everyone who’s supported our journey. Until next time,

Fair winds and smooth sailing. DB

Ghosting along on a gorgeous day

On By David BranbyIn SplendidoLeave a comment

We’ve owned Splendido for 15 seasons now, and I never tire of sailing her to take in all the beauty that is Lake Tahoe. Even on days where there’s little to no wind (which are actually pretty rare at Lake Tahoe), it’s amazing to just be out on her lapis lazuli-colored waters, which you can really get a sense of from this video. Special shout-outs to @fredmcelroy1908 for hooking me up with our beautiful boat back in the day and to @wakealmanor and Zack Sizemore for dropping by to say hi and capturing this gorgeous drone footage.

High pressure is back this week and it doesn’t look like there will be much sailing until next Tuesday, so I’ll be getting things organized for the inevitable haul-out come October. It’s always a bittersweet time of year for me, so I do my best to rally and squeeze every drop of sailing out of the season that I can, or, barring that, getting after related boat projects I’ve put off all summer. Today, I’m off to freshen up the paint on the frame for Splendido’s winter cover and do a bit of maintenance on her trailer as well. More when it happens… until then,

Fair winds! DB

David Branby smiles as he looks up how to use a sewing machine.

Remind me again… how do I sew a seam on a sail?

On By David BranbyIn Keeping Up Appearances, SplendidoLeave a comment

It’s been several weeks since I have been able to sail, so yesterday’s outing on Lake Tahoe was a real treat. Winds were fresh out of the SSW at 15-16 knots with gusts up to a sprightly 23+ knots, which made for some exhilirating moments. To shake off the rust, I sailed down to Chambers Landing, then tacked and sailed back up to Mark Zuckerberg’s place before heading in. Along the way back, I noticed the leech (trailing edge) of the genoa looking a little ragged. Nothing major; the stitching had come undone on the sacrificial UV strip (the blue fabric that protects the white Dacron® cloth of the sail) along the last 8-10 ft. up from the clew. Back on the hook, I dropped the genoa onto the deck and did my best to roll it up and stuff it into the dinghy so I could take it home and re-sew the material.

Once I got home, I dragged out the ol’ sewing machine, found some UV-protected upholstery thread, and got to work. I had actually forgotten everything about using a sewing machine, including how to put thread on the bobbin and even how to re-install the bobbin. A few minutes with the 1970s-era manual, and I was back in business.


As luck would have it, I broke the needle at the very last stitch down the leech. I still have a bit of work to do on the cross stitching that holds the sacrificial UV strip on, and then it’s time to re-hoist the genoa and go for a sail. August is the best month for sailing Tahoe. The weather settles down and becomes nicely predictable, and the water is warm enough to go for a swim. Can’t wait to get back up there. Until then…

Fair winds and smooth sailing! DB

Moments like this make it worth the effort

On By David BranbyIn Commissioning & De-commissioning, On The Water, SplendidoLeave a comment

It’s taken me more than a decade to realize that living with a “good old boat” might have a lot of similarities to giving birth. Few can imagine the effort you have to go through to get her launched, but most folks can appreciate the magic and magnificence that happens when the pain subsides and the pleasure begins. 🙂

Fair winds and smooth sailing! DB

Reflections on a season of midweek sailing at Tahoe

On By David BranbyIn Commissioning & De-commissioning, Mechanical Stuff, On The Water, Ports Of Call, SplendidoLeave a comment

Debbie and I had one goal this sailing season, and that was to try to relax and enjoy our new-found leisure time after I stepped away from my long advertising career at the end of January. We were excited to see how we could go from being the typical “weekend warrior”-type sailors we’d been for the past 14 years to any-day-of-the week yachties able to get far from the madding crowds as much as possible. We discovered, to our delight, how empty Lake Tahoe is in the summer Mondays through Thursdays (apart from July 4th and Labor Day weeks, of course). When you’re out on the water midweek, you really do feel like you have the whole place to yourselves.

Nevertheless, we did find time to socialize a bit, whether at Chambers Landing, where they’re really stepped up their game of late with new management, or happily running into our nephew Dusty Cady as he was in the midst of a stand-up paddleboard circumnavigation (yes, 72 miles of paddling and camping out over five days). In early summer, our friends Fred and Alice at Big Blue Tahoe Yacht Club threw a backyard party with delicious paella, where we reconnected with Brady Trautman and met Alex Blue and Sharky of SV Delos and Cruisers Academy fame. When the weather warmed up, my sailing pals Ancil Sigman of La Crapaud and John Turner of Grand Cru invited me out to enjoy a relaxing day floating, eating and swimming off Baldwin Beach, followed by a tour of majestic Emerald Bay, which I hadn’t visited in a long while.

While nothing catastrophic happened (thank you, universe) other than someone stealing our buoy tags, we did have some lively moments, like when the sail slides on the mast all blew out right after I’d hoisted the main. In an instant, our mainsail turned into a wildly flapping spinnaker. Fortunately, I was able to pull it down quickly and continued sailing under genoa alone up to Tahoe City Marina, where you could not buy — at any price — a damn sail slide. (I now have enough backup sail slides to take care of two future blow-outs, thanks to our friends at Sailrite.) Oddly enough, a week later, that very same failure happened to John Turner aboard Grand Cru. The lesson here is that things age quickly at Lake Tahoe’s 6,225-ft. elevation, especially plastic sail slides. Back in my garage, it took me about four hours to sew on the new sail slides and shackles (another interesting lesson: I thought sail slides all just attached via snaps or screws, but half of the sail slides on my main had to be laboriously hand-sewn on. That would be quite the PITA if you had to do it aboard a pitching sailboat at sea).

One highlight of the season for me was to catch my first ride on Terry Wasik’s legendary Cheeseburger in Paradise, a 41-ft. Hunter sailing out of Obexer’s Marina. Last season, Terry had hauled Cheeseburger to the coast and sailed down to Mexico in the Baja Haha flotilla. I am deeply appreciative of having the opportunity to spend a lovely day of fine sailing aboard this gorgeous vessel with a crew of 5 or 6 guests while (appropriately enough) Jimmy Buffet serenaded us. Thanks, Terry!

While our good old boat only has about 700 hours on her 18 hp diesel, one day, I heard a grinding noise down below and discovered that the crankshaft was turning while the engine was turned off and in neutral, which was a real head-scratcher for me. Ancil theorized that the clutch plates had warped over the years and were causing the shaft to turn, which is not optimal. At the end of the season, we removed the drive shaft, pulled the transmission out, got it cleaned up and now plan to install a service kit to get things working properly again. I’m also thinking about replacing the worn engine mounts, which is kind of a big deal, but that should reduce engine noise and vibration as well. I’ve also got to drop the rudder and mount a new rudder bushing which I accidentally discovered while diving the hull in August. What do we live for, hey? 🙂

Alas, the season is so short at Tahoe, and before I knew it, it was time to bring Splendido down to Reno and put her away for the winter. I built a proper frame for her new-to-me winter cover, so I’m really grateful to be able work on her out of the weather this winter (and staying pretty warm when the sun’s out) while she’s on the hard. Next season will be here before we know it. Until then…

Fair winds and smooth sailing! DB

Sailor Andy Schwenk

Catching up with sailor Andy Schwenk & our first splash of the summer

On By David BranbyIn On The Water, Ports Of Call, Splendido2 Comments

I got a note from my high school pal Pam last week that her brother, sailing legend Andy Schwenk, was going to be joining Rick Raduziner — owner of the Santa Cruz 27, Lickety Split — to compete in the 2024 Santa Cruz 27 National Championships at Lake Tahoe July 12-14. Andy was a couple of years behind me in high school in Anacortes, WA and I had the good fortune to sail with him and his dad, Dr. Walter Schwenk, aboard the iconic Santa Cruz 33, Ajax, back in the day.

Andy’s been afloat pretty much his whole life, and has chalked up 54 trips across the Pacific to Hawaii and back while racing in the Victoria to Maui, Transpac and Pacific Cup competitions. Professionally, Andy is a marine surveyor, rigging expert, delivery skipper and Port Captain of the Richmond Yacht Club in the Bay Area. Andy made headlines a few years ago when he developed necrotizing fasciitis from a minor ankle scrape after the 2022 Pacific Cup race. A few days into the return voyage, Andy had to be transfered to a passing tanker and later airlifted to the mainland, where he spent a month at Stanford hospital while a team of physicians worked to save his leg.

I drove up to Tahoe Yacht Club last Friday to see if I could find Andy after the skipper’s meeting, and recognized him instantly. We visited for a few minutes before he and Rick dashed off to prep the boat for the race. With high pressure hanging over the Tahoe basin, winds were light and shifty, and Lickety Split managed a respectable 5th out of a dozen boats.

The day before, Debbie and I snuck up for a wonderful afternoon sail in 12-15 knot winds to Sugar Pine State Park, where we dropped the hook in about 14 ft. and both went swimming for the first time this year. The water was about 70º F. at the surface, so we dove in and splashed around a bit before climbing back aboard to dry off under the shade of our makeshift “bimini.” The winds dropped off to just a breath later in the evening, so we took a leisurely motor along the shoreline looking at all the lovely homes and boats as the sun lowered in the sky. After all the wrenching on the boat earlier this year — including replacing the hard-to-find Lucas alternator just last week — it felt like we’d finally settled into our summer groove. We’re looking forward to more. Until then …

Fair winds! DB

Summertime, and Tahoe living is easy

On By David BranbyIn Food & Drink, Friend Ships, On The Water, Ports Of Call, Splendido2 Comments

We’ve gotten in a few lively afternoon sails along the West Shore with winds in the 15-25 kt. range and temps in the 80s, so it really feels like summer is upon us here in the High Sierra. The lake level is high and it seems like there are fewer boats out, so you kinda feel like you have the place to yourself — which is just fine by me!

I’m making a point of revisiting a number Lake Tahoe classics this summer, including a yummy breakfast at The Old Post Office in Carnelian Bay with my pal Ancil, dinner with Debbie at Chambers Landing (also yummy and very family-friendly … just a lovely, laid-back Tahoe summer vibe), and one day just hanging out at the south end of Tahoe by Baldwin Beach with Ancil and our buddy John aboard La Crapaud. We anchored in 10 ft. and lolled about in the shade of the bimini for the whole day, sharing stories and watching the world go by. The Baldwin Beach area — tucked away in the extreme southwest corner of Lake Tahoe — is great for hanging out on the hook because the boat traffic is much further off shore as folks cut across from South Tahoe marinas to the must-see spot on the lake, Emerald Bay.

I rowed the dinghy in to shore at Baldwin and explored the wetlands, where evidently the Tahoe Yellow Cress is struggling to survive and efforts are being made to control invasive species as well. The water temp was about 67º F. on Ancil’s gauge, so I went for a swim in the shallows, then sat on the inflatable dinghy and dried off in the sun.

Later in the afternoon, we motored around Fannette Island in Emerald Bay just to bask in the grandeur of that amazing place before heading home for the night.

We’re planning on going boat camping once the 4th of July crowds thin, and I’m looking forward to watching the light change on the Sierra Nevada and the Milky Way to appear. Until then …

Fair winds! DB

An ode to the fine folks at Obexer’s Marina

On By David BranbyIn Commissioning & De-commissioning, On The Water, Ports Of Call, SplendidoLeave a comment

Putting a sailboat in the water seems like it would be so simple — and yet it takes a team working in close coordination to pull it off succesfully. Fortunately, Bret and Jessy and the crew at Obexer’s are real pros, and the only goofs we made at yesterday’s launch were self-inflicted: 1) we mounted the forestay with the drum opening facing forward rather than aft (yes, this needs to be turned around), 2) we broke a boat-stand pad as we worked to get the boat off the trailer, and 3) I dropped my favorite hose-clamp-tightening tool in the drink as I spent seven hours fitting out the boat (and feeling lucky that was the only tool that went overboard!). The good news is, the weather was gorgeous, the good folks at Obexer’s let me borrow an empty slip for part of the day, and when I looked up from time to time, I got to see lots of happy sailboaters out enjoying the afternoon zephyr breezes on McKinney Bay.

The lake is wonderfully full this year, and motoring up to our buoy made me realize how lucky we are to be able to enjoy this gorgeous sheet of water at 6,230 ft. above sea level. As I write this with my steaming cup of coffee beside me and feeling every tired and sore muscle in my body this morning, the only thing I can say is: I’m grateful.

Fair winds! DB

Just Add Water

On By David BranbyIn Commissioning & De-commissioning, Keeping Up Appearances, Mechanical Stuff, SplendidoLeave a comment

We launch Splendido in three days, and the past six weeks have been a whirlwind of activity getting her prepped for the Tahoe sailing season. The theme this spring was, “OK, what really needs to be addressed on a well-loved 31-year old sailboat that has seen lots of use? Fortunately, my mechanical-genius pal Ancil Sigman had plenty of suggestions, as you’ll see below.

The things I intended to fix in the off-season:

  • Make a better rope with knots in it to pull up the swim ladder.

The things Ancil heartily encouraged me (and tirelessly helped me) to fix in the off-season:

  • We pulled out every inch of the original (but significantly corroded) battery cables and replaced them with beefier, brand-spankin’ new cabling, all nicely heat-shrinked, from the battery bank to the panel to the engine, inverter, etc.
  • Upgraded the boat trailer with new running lights, from hitch to taillights.
  • Pulled out two bent lifeline stanchions, straightened them, then properly re-bedded and reinstalled them.
  • Replaced all the lifelines on the boat.
  • Removed the cabin windows that were popping up (hey, 31 years is a pretty good run), re-glued them with 3M VHB tape, and scraped/re-caulked all the windows on the boat.
  • Completely rebuilt the Whale Galley Gusher pump with a new service kit (way, way harder and less intuitive than it sounds). First clue: The schematic they provide was way too low-rez to be helpful, and nothing on YouTube™ showed how to do it properly. Even the factory’s customer service lady gave us the wrong instructions. In the end, I had to call on Perplexity.ai to finally spit out the right way to do it.
  • While the icebox pump was out, I sanded, cleaned and re-fiberglassed the area under the stove with a couple layers of cloth. Turned out great. 
  • Also laid in some fiberglass cloth and epoxy on the stern shower fixture door, which had cracked with age. It looks pretty good now with a little gel coat added.
  • Replaced every seacock on the boat with new Forespar® Marelon™ seacocks. This took a ton of work because the handles don’t come off of the new ones, so you have to grind out the cabinetry in the tight spaces so you can screw the new seacocks onto the thru-hulls.
  • Replaced the cheap CDI plastic furling drum cover that broke after only two seasons (are you listenin’, CDI?) with a proper metal replacement drum cover which should have been standard issue to begin with. (Replacing this was a major pain).
  • Since the mast was down on sawhorses, we took the opportunity to service it from tip to base, checking the sheaves, fasteners, spreaders, boots, wiring, lights, etc. Ancil rigged a gypsum-board lifter to help get the 200-lb. mast back up on the boat. Thank you, Ancil!
  • Checked the steering cables looking for fishhooks (there weren’t any — whew!).
  • Tried to remove the pinkish stain around the port-side Splendido logo that happened the winter we kept the boat on the hard up at Obexer’s. Tried four or five coats of oxalic acid, several fiberglass cleaning products, Soft Scrub … nothing worked. At best, I got it to lighten maybe 15% or so. Dang.
  • Applied gel coat to nicks on the transom and elsewhere in the cabin, then wet-sanded it and polished it up.
  • Removed all the original curtains in the boat, soaked them in OxyClean and mild washing soap, re-sewed the hook-and-loop parts that had come undone, and re-attached them. They look great.
  • Removed old epoxy spills in the cabin and on deck.
  • Used 3M 4200 to glue down the bilge pump and float switch in bilge. Also, finally wired the bilge pump properly to the panel so it operates automatically and manually as well.
  • Touched up the bottom paint with blue Total Boat Krypton.
  • Put 4-5 coats of PolyGlo (amazing stuff!) on the hull, and now she looks great.

I never did get around to making a better swim ladder rope.

After some rest, I’m looking forward to a relaxing summer of fair winds and smooth sailing! DB